Montour County PA Miscellaneous News Articles
From the Past

Republican Compiler (Gettysburg, Pennsylvania)
December 8 1829

A woman, named Mary Maginty, is supposed to have been murdered at Danville, in the night between Saturday and Sudnay last a week. Two men, we understand, have been arrested and committed to prison, on suspicion of having been concerned in the tragic scene.

The Adams Sentinel (Gettysburg, Pennsylvania)
Feb 17 1830

Distressing Bereavement

On Thursday week, John C. Montgomery, Esq., of Danville, was married to Miss Deborah Kehr, of Northumberland county. On the day following, they left her father's house in a sleigh, and had not proceeded more than 200 yards, when the horses took fright, upset the sleigh, and Mrs. M. was thrown against a fence, and killed!

Star and Republican Banner (Gettysburg, Pennsylvania)
June 22 1841

Balloon Ascension

Mr. John Wise, Eronaut, ascended with his balloon on Saturday last from Danville, Pa., at two o'clock P.M. and at 25 minutes past four landed in safety (safely?) at Morgantown, having traversed in 145 minutes a distance of 87 miles. He crossed Pottsville at three o'clock and passed to the eastward of Reading about four o'clock. Swift traveling.

The Adams Sentinel (Gettysburg, Pennsylvania)
April 22 1844

North Branch Canal - The Danville Pa., Intelligencer, of the 12th inst., says: --

This canal is now in fine navigable order, and a number of boats are already running. We anticipate an extensive business to be done on this line this season, as a quantity of coal, iron &c. have already been sent to market.

Danville and vicinity begin to assume a lively appearance, and business of all kinds in improving. The large and extensive Monteur Iron Works are undergoing the necessary repairs, and they will be put in blast as soon as completed. They are the largest works of the kind in the State.

The Adams Sentinel (Gettysburg, Pennsylvania)
August 19 1844

The Philadelphia Commercial List states that two large furnaces at Danville, on the Susquehanna, after standing idle for two or three years, have been purchased, repaired and put in blast. Each furnace is blown by an engine of 90 horse power, and capable of producing 20 to 25 tons of pig iron daily. Another furnace at Danville is undergoing repairs, and will soon be blown in. The owners are about to erect a rolling mill at an expense of $100,000, for the making of railroad iron.

Republican Compiler (Gettysburg, Pennsylvania)
May 10 1847

Capt. J. T. Wilson, Company C., from Danville, belonging to the 2d Pennsylvania Regiment, died at Vera Cruz on the 11th ult., and his remains were escorted to the cemetery, outside of the city walls, on the 12th, by the Cameron Guards, where they were interred with the honors of war.

The Adams Sentinel (Gettysburg, Pennsylvania)
September 4 1848

Mr. Polk's Tariff is making sad work among the Pennsylvania Iron interests. A letter to the Philadelphia News, from Danville says:

The Rolling Mill and all the furnaces in Danville, Pa., are closed, and at least five hundred workmen thrown out of employment. Sixty-four of the company's houses are empty, and half the remaining hundred and fifty houses will be so in a few days.

The Adams Sentinel (Gettysburg, Pennsylvania)
September 24 1849

The Danville Furnaces

The Tariff of '46 is fast coming down on the iron interest of this State with crushing weight, and day after day the announcement that furnaces have been blown out for want of employment, or that contracts are being made with English iron masters for rails at prices lower than they can be procured here, give sad proff that the period is not far distant when, if some change is not effected, there will not be the smoke from a single chimney in all the iron furnaces of Pennsylvania.

Among the heaviest enterprises for the development of the iron interest in this State, is that of the Montour Company, at Danville; and its operations have been extensive and widely beneficial. To stop them, is not merely to bring heavy loss to the proprietors, but it is to make hundreds of strong and willing hands idle, to take bread from the mouths of wives and children, to bring miserty to hearths where the reward of honest labor had maintained happiness and contentment, and; lastly, to lop from the revenues of the State an important sum. These are great and manifold evils, which grasp the dearest interests of individuals and the public; yet they are falling thickly, and will continue to fall while the tariff of '46 exists. Not long ago the Montour Company had four furnaces in blast. They have not but one, the third having been blown out on Friday last. Such results of the operations of a measure make a comment upon it unnecessary.

The Adams Sentinel (Gettysburg, Pennsylvania)
January 21 1850

Serious Accident in a Rolling Mill

A letter dated Danville, Jan. 8, states that in the rolling mill there, the large fly-wheel, weighing from 25 to 30 tons, burst asunder and scattered the roof and machinery at a fearful rate. Pieces weighing 3,4 and even 5 tons, were hurled through the roof, crushing everything before them. One man only was slightly injured. The damage cannot be less than $10,000; it may reach $30,000. It is believed to have been done by some villain, who threw a piece of iron between the cogs of the main wheels. This unfortunate affair throws hundreds of laborers out of employment.

Star and Banner (Gettysburg, Pennsylvania)
May 31 1850

Montour County

The formation of the new county of Montour, has caused great rejoicing and display at Danville, and the citizens of that place have tendered to the Hon. Valentine Best, by whose efforts it was mainly secured, the compliment of a public dinner. Mr. B., however, declines.

Republican Compiler (Gettysburg, Pennsylvania)
July 1 1850

The citizens of Columbia county held a meeting recently, and warmly protested against the act of the Legislature, creating Montour County.

The Adams Sentinel (Gettysburg, Pennsylvania)
July 22 1850

The late storm was very severe at Danville. Thousands upon thousands of shocks of wheat and rye floated down the Susquehanna. Part of the town was inundated, and accessible only through boats. Several of the iron establishments were compelled to stop, among others, the Montour Rolling Mills - the fly wheel being over five feet under water. The farmers on the low lands have lost an immense amount of property. At Wiklesbarre, the loss of properly by the freshet, in grain, fences, bridges, &c., far exceeds the loss by any previous freshet in the Susquehann.